... withdrawal rate is restricted to ensure that the production well is fully submerged in liquid and not in direct communication with the vapour chamber. The implementation of steam trap control is fairly straightforward if the injected fluid is steam and the produced fluids are bitumen and water. However...

... production cumulative oil production saturation interface upstream oil & gas separator heavy oil flow in porous media vapour chamber experiment production rate PETROLEUM SOCIETY CANADIAN INSTITUTE OF MINING, METALLURGY & PETROLEUM PAPER 2007-005 The Role of Connate Water Saturation in VAPEX...

... solvent to extract heavy oil at a constant pressure slightly lower than its dew-point pressure and a constant temperature. The heavy oil VAPEX process is visualized to determine the so-called vapour chamber rising, spreading and falling phases. In particular, the stabilized heavy oil production rate...

... in an improved oil production rate. All components of naphtha travelled freely in the vapour chamber and accumulated along the vapour chamber front in both the vapour and oil phases. At higher solvent to steam ratios oil production rate decreased due to an accumulation of solvent gas at the vapour chamber front...

... in vicinity of the vapour chamber, has significantly lower viscosity as compared to the native oil. The main driving mechanism is gravity to help drain the oil thus mobilized 1 (having reduced viscosity) as shown in Figure 1. Theoretical treatments of Vapex assume the oil to be 'black', i.e. no changes...

... and leaves concentrated gas in the upper portion of the vapour chamber. As a result, only the region near the injector and producer, where the gas concentration is low, is heated to the temperature of saturated steam. The upper part of the reservoir remains at relatively low temperature and the heat loss...